This study focused on training students in skills essential to making oral presentations based on original and independent research work as part of their English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course. As a result of the training, students showed an increase in the successful use of research-related skills and a great improvement in their ability to present their findings in English. Students appeared to have a better grasp of their subject matter, to be more at ease, less reliant on their notes, and better able to address their audiences directly. Students' oral presentations not only illustrated a greater ability of students to use appropriate formats and structures in English but also a willingness and ability to adopt new methods of learning. This would seem to suggest that the preference for "rote learning" so commonly attributed to Hong Kong students is indeed the result of expectations and experiences in previous learning situations rather than the intrinsic and inherent characteristics of the learners themselves. (Contains 6 tables.)